Pretzels

So tonight for dinner I made homemade Pretzels! They were delicious! I made the dough last night and finished making them today when I got home from an unexpected day at work where I got to visit the Jenny Wiley Theatre in Prestonsburg, KY. To get to Prestonsburg one goes south in Kentucky. The East. Then East some more. And for good measure go a little farther East. Anyway pretzels! They were spicy jalapeno cheddar, Italian seasoning, cayenne and salt pretzels.

They turned out really well this time and I think the big reason was instead of mixing the dough myself I used my handy dandy bread maker on its dough setting. It rose waaay better than I had ever gotten it to do. I also deviated from the cookbook directions slightly. I'm starting to get the hang of yeast and what it likes and doesn't like. Learning this is exciting to me! I feel like I can connect with my food more when I am coaxing a microscopic creature to help me out in making some awesome baked goods. 

Another example..

.. of why my neighbors rock.

I answered the door the other day to find one of my neighbors standing outside. While I don't have as much interaction with the neighbors across the street, we do generally have friendly waves, she brought over cookies for Christmas, I've taken her eggs in the past, and she has brought me chicken memorabilia (for lack of better words) from garage sales. Her husband likes to brew beer so he and Dan talk occasionally about that art. Anyway I answer the door and there is my neighbor standing with an empty egg carton and a pack of bacon. She says, "Hi, I was wondering if you had any eggs? I brought bacon for you!"

After scrounging the house, "you have a cat! Cats!" and then in the coop where she bemusedly met the guinea pigs, "guinea pigs!?" I got her the half dozen she was looking for.

We ate the bacon for Sunday brunch :) Yay awesome neighbors!

dandelions

Dandelions are a remarkable plant. Able to withstand so much, with so much abuse. They have gone from saving to damned in a very short amount of time. They were brought over by Europeans because they are edible and considered a herb as well as believed to have medicinal purposes. Now people just want them out of their lawns. Bring on the dandelions I say! Apparently the Guinea pigs agree:

Guinea Pigs! Now I have guinea pigs!? No, I am actually babysitting them thru September for a friend. But man. Dandelions are definitely top of their list. 

Bread and GMO's

I baked my first ever loaf of bread last night! It turned out excellent! The outside was nice and crispy and the inside was moist and soft. It was a beautiful thing. My new bread maker is my new favorite appliance. Well, it's my only new appliance. Well, its actually not even new. Dan scavenged it from the lunch room at his work. Apparently it have been sitting there for years looking for a home. Well it's mine now! I cannot wait to try out more recipes in it. Hopefully this will move me towards my goal of eating only non-GMO food. I will be able to buy GMO free flours to start and go from there. Here is my loaf of bread!

If you are not familiar with the phrase GMO you should be. GMO is the short term applied to a food that has a "genetically modified organism". The companies making these GMO's (namely a corporation called Monsanto) are actively telling the public these foods are safe and the good traits and benefits far outweigh any other issues. Monsanto also told us that some of their other creations -DDT (what killed off all the bald eagles among other animals) and Agent Orange (the defoliant used in Vietnam) were safe before people and animals started dying from exposure. Many European countries have started banning GMO crops. And it is the direction our country needs to move. The problem is that Monsanto is one of the biggest companies in the world, its based in St Louis, MO and Monsanto employees are scattered all throughout our government. It is easy to make sure your modified foods pass inspection when you run your own tests. These foods are slowly but surely being linked to the massive decline (called commonly colony collapse disorder) in honey bees. The ruin of honey bees is the ruin of us. Strategically and in true monsanto fashion they purchased the company who started to point the finger at the GMO's causing the decline in bees. No matter how magical a crop, it needs bees.  Want some more info?
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto
 http://www.naturalnews.com/035688_Monsanto_honey_bees_colony_collapse.html

I'll get off my soapbox now :)